SOCIAL SAFETY NETS Sample Clauses

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS. The economic crisis has had an unprecedented impact on social welfare. The most pressing priority for the government is to provide immediate support to the most vulnerable to help alleviate the impact of the renewed downturn. Already, a package of measures on food, housing and access to health care has been adopted and is being implemented. In order to get people back to work, the authorities, working closely with European partners, have taken measures to boost employment by providing short-term work opportunities to 50.000 people targeting the long-term unemployed. The Government will adopt by March 2016 a further series of guaranteed employment support schemes covering 150,000 persons, including the long term unemployed (29+), young people (16-29), and disadvantaged groups (including inter alia GMI beneficiaries) with individualised active labour market measures for participants, using local partnerships, involving the private and social economy sectors and ensuring efficient and effective use of the resources available. A fairer society will require that Greece improves the design of its welfare system, so that there is a genuine social safety net which targets scarce resources at those in most need. The authorities plan to benefit from available technical assistance for the social welfare review and for the GMI implementation from international organisations. i. The government commits as a prior action to agree the terms of reference and launch a comprehensive Social Welfare Review, including both cash and in-kind benefits, tax benefits, social security and other social benefits, across the general government, with the assistance of the World Bank, with first operational results to be completed by December 2015, targeted to generate savings of ½ percent of GDP annually which will serve as the basis for the redesign of a targeted welfare system, including the fiscally-neutral gradual national roll-out of the GMI. The overall design of the GMI will also be agreed with the institutions. ii. The Authorities by September 2015 will set out their detailed preparations for a gradual nationwide roll-out of a Guaranteed Minimum Income (GMI) scheme from 1 April 2016, including for the set up of a benefits registry and a strategy to ensure the inclusion of vulnerable groups and to avoid fraud. Close linkages with municipalities and employment services will be established. iii. By January 2016, the authorities will propose and legislate reforms to welfare benefits ...

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS. The reform of the disability benefits framework (a mid-2019 specific commitment) is advancing but with significant delays outside the control of the authorities. While the upgrading and simplification of the administrative processes to determine the disability status is progressing, the new approach based on both medical and functional assessment is still to be adopted. The new methodology should have been developed on the basis of the evaluation of a pilot project. This, however, encountered significant delays for reasons outside the control of the authorities. A first draft final report was delivered in December 2019, while the final evaluation report is pending. Some issues have emerged already from the draft report, which point to potential difficulties in implementing the new methodology (notably, how to ensure the reliability of a self-reported assessment of functionality). In view of these issues, the authorities have agreed to provide a new revised timeline for its national rollout by April 2020. Finally, the authorities have announced their intention to prepare a National Action Plan on Disability shortly, going beyond the revision of disability assessment, to review the whole set of benefits and services for the disabled, in view of strengthening the provision of in-kind benefits and services for the disabled. The reform of disability assessment should be an element of this broader Action Plan. Regarding the review of the system of subsidies for local public transport, the evaluation study (an end-2019 specific commitment) will be completed by end April 2020. The delay is due to the many distinct beneficiaries (ten different population groups receive these types of subsidies) and the involvement of a number of different ministries. Major steps have been taken to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and adequacy of the social welfare system, however poverty remains high (the highest in the EU at 31.8%). According to the latest available data, between 2017 and 2018, the share of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) declined from 34.8% to 31.8%, while the percentage of severe material deprivation decreased from 21.1% to 16.7%. The introduction of a guaranteed minimum income scheme and the housing benefit for rental costs for vulnerable households have been significant measures. Nevertheless, the level of the guaranteed minimum income scheme (at €200 per month) remains low and there is no permanent support for vulnerable homeowners ...

SOCIAL SAFETY NETS. ‌ The Targeted Public Distribution System is a social safety net program under the purview of the Department of Consumer and Civil Supplies that provides subsidized food commodities (i.e. rice, pulses and sugar) and kerosene to households through a network of independently run Fair Price Shops located throughout the state. The TPDS provides food grains to households at two sets of prices, depending on whether they are above or below the poverty line. APL households pay close to market price for food items whereas BPL households pay highly subsidized prices for 25kg of rice and 10kg of wheat per month. According to official TPDS statistics, 12,200,000 households possessed a BPL ration card In August 2010. With an estimated population of 83 million and an average family size of 5.6 (IIPS, 2008a), this would mean that 82 percent of all households have access to subsidized food grains through the PDS. However, it is highly unlikely that even a majority of households with BPL cards are able to collect their full entitlement from Fair Price Shops for reasons that will be discussed later.